Russia Slams Tusk’s Nord Stream Remarks, Warns of Risks to Europe’s Legal Order

Dragon Media News Desk

Russia has strongly criticized Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk over remarks suggesting that Germany should abandon criminal proceedings against individuals suspected of involvement in the sabotage of the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said such a position could set a dangerous precedent for Europe’s legal order and interstate relations.

During a press conference in Krakow on August 20, Tusk commented on the German investigation into individuals suspected of involvement in the destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines. The Russian Foreign Ministry interpreted his remarks as a defense of those linked to the explosions. Tusk also criticized former German Chancellor Angela Merkel over her previous support for the Nord Stream 2 project.

Responding to a media question on Friday, Zakharova said it was deeply destabilizing for the head of government of a major European country to make statements that could be interpreted as justifying the destruction of critical energy infrastructure. Russia has consistently described the 2022 Nord Stream explosions as an act of terrorism, while German investigators have treated the incident as a serious act of sabotage and pursued legal proceedings against suspected participants.

Zakharova argued that if attacks on critical infrastructure were politically justified on strategic grounds, it could create a precedent in which similar actions against civilian or energy facilities might also be defended in the future. She said such an approach could weaken the legal and political restraints that have governed interstate relations in Europe.

She also warned that Warsaw’s position on the Nord Stream sabotage could eventually work against Poland’s own national interests and security. Her argument was that if one country accepts the destruction of another state’s critical infrastructure as legitimate, similar reasoning could later be applied elsewhere.

Zakharova linked the issue to longstanding competition and strategic differences between Poland and Germany. Although both countries are members of the European Union and NATO, she argued that their interests do not always coincide in areas such as energy policy, regional influence and security priorities. Her description of Polish-German relations as rooted in historical antagonism, however, represents the Russian government’s political assessment.

The Russian Foreign Ministry also emphasized the importance of the Nord Stream pipelines to Germany’s energy system. Zakharova said their destruction deprived Germany of direct access to relatively inexpensive Russian gas and increased dependence on more costly alternative energy supplies. She argued that higher energy costs have contributed to pressure on German industry, although Germany’s industrial weakness also reflects broader factors including global demand, structural economic problems, Chinese competition and wider European economic conditions.

At the same time, Moscow argued that Poland has expanded its role in regional energy markets through imports and redistribution of US liquefied natural gas. Zakharova also raised the issue of Poland’s growing influence over regional gas infrastructure linked to Ukraine, arguing that the loss of Nord Stream has contributed to a shift in the balance of energy influence across Central and Eastern Europe.

Powerful explosions damaged the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines in the Baltic Sea in September 2022. Three of the four pipeline strings were severely damaged. Nord Stream 1 had previously been an important route for Russian gas deliveries to Germany, while Nord Stream 2 had been completed but never entered commercial operation.

German investigators have pursued legal action against Ukrainian nationals suspected of involvement in the operation. However, the full chain of command behind the sabotage, including who ultimately authorized it and the extent of any institutional or political responsibility, has not been conclusively established.

Against that unresolved background, Tusk’s latest remarks and Moscow’s sharp response show that the Nord Stream case is no longer only about investigating the 2022 destruction of energy infrastructure. It has become part of a wider political dispute involving German legal authority, Poland’s security calculations, the war in Ukraine, Europe’s changing energy structure and the broader question of how attacks on critical infrastructure should be treated among European states.